1. Field of the Invention
The present field of the invention is related to a carrier of reticle pod, and more particularly, to a carrier of reticle pod disposed with a plurality of fixing elements for fixing reticle pods in the carrier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor technology has undergone rapid development in recent years, wherein optical lithography plays an important role as everything related to pattern definition needs to rely on optical lithography. In the application of optical lithography in semiconductor, designed circuits are made into light-transmissible photo mask with specific form. By applying the principle of exposure, when light source is transmitted through the photo mask and projected onto silicon wafer, specific pattern can be shown after exposure. Since any dust particles (i.e. particles, dust, or organic matters) attaching on the photo mask will lead to aggravation of quality of projection and imaging, photo mask used for producing pattern needs to be maintained in absolute cleanliness. Therefore in ordinary wafer producing process, clean room environment is provided to prevent from contamination of particles in the air. However, state of absolute cleanliness cannot be achieved in clean room at present. Currently, contamination-resistant reticle pod is used in semiconductor process for performing storage and transportation of reticle pod to maintain cleanliness of photo mask.
And the most frequently used method for transferring photo mask is to store a single photo mask in a single reticle pod and then place several reticle pods together in a carrier of reticle pod, and to fill the carrier of reticle pod with soft materials (for example, foam and sponge) to reduce gap in the carrier of reticle pod and to reinforce and fix each photo mask at the same time, preventing photo mask stored in reticle pod from being affected by rubbing or damaging of photo mask due to vibration of the carrier of reticle pod generated during the process of transferring the photo mask. However, as far as supplier of photo mask is concerned, in addition to that reticle pod needs to be fixedly placed in the carrier of reticle pod during the process of delivery, soft materials need to be manually filled in the carrier of reticle pod to ensure that there are not too many gaps in the carrier; as far as consumer of photo mask is concerned, before reticle pod is taken out, soft materials filled in the carrier of reticle pod also need to be manually removed first to take out reticle pod thereafter and the soft materials used for filling need to be disposed afterwards. Therefore, not only that both the supplier and the consumer need to spend time and manpower in packing and removal of these soft materials, but that if these used soft materials are directly disposed without being recycled for repetitive use, then these non-decomposable soft materials lead to environmental pollution.